Australian Vermiculture has now extended its business to supply composting worms to the Australian market direct. 2009 has been spent developing systems and processes to breed composting worms, on a large scale, specifically for residential and commercial composting. The company is now in a position to take significant quantities of orders of worms for immediate delivery.

The worms are mature size so they are ready to start composting as soon as you lay them in your composting bins. This means they will also start breeding sooner.

While it is cheaper and more cost effective for the worm farmer to deliver immature worms, baby worms take time to mature, have a higher risk of dieing before they reach maturity and do not eat as much. Because of this you end up being a worm farmer before your organic waste starts seriously composting. Whereas baby worms born into your balanced, mature composting environment are growing and being nurtured in a stable colony. They are not battling for survival.

By supplying worms direct from the farm to you, you are lessening the time that your worms are sitting on shelves in shops. While on the shelves the worms are getting weaker since their only access to food is the base material they are transported in. The sooner they get into your compost bin with a variety of food inputs the better it is for their health.

Australian Vermiculture are now taking orders through their web site and over the phone, distributing anywhere in Australia. Wholesalers and distributors are also welcomed.

Australian Vermiculture were the primary sponsors for the series of lectures and seminars she gave in Western New South Wales.  Which resulted in a very impactful message to farmers still using a chemically driven system.  "... We cannot continue on the chemical pathway because we are destroying air quality, we're destroying water quality, we're destroying the quality of the food that we eat." Dr Ingham said.

The toxicity in our soil is impacting everything from the food we eat to the air we breath and Dr Ingham believes it's effecting our children, longer term.  She cannot stress enough; the necessity for biological farming and Australian Vermiculture is delighted to be at the forefront of that conversion process.  With certification from NASAA as an organic input supplier, and support/accreditation from Soil FoodWeb Institute our products are at the cornerstone of biological farming.

Dr. Elaine Ingham is an ambassador for Soil Food Web Inc.  Her recent tour illustrates the importance of having a complete biological food chain in our soils as well as addressing some of the more obvious questions; how does it impact growers from farms to broad acreage? And what are the costs involved with conversion from a chemical system to a biological one?

Australian Vermiculure is at the forefront of this shift in thinking. Australian Vermiculture products wholly support the biological grower, by providing the right soil nutrients, mulch, organic compost, compost teas and brewer systems.  AV can advise on all application methods for growers from landscape gardening to large-scale broad acreage farmers.  The drive for biological farming and the call for change are at the root of Australian Vermiculture soils, quite literally.  

Follow the link below to the ABC website to listen to the interview of what Dr Elaine Ingham had to say to the ABC rural report with Nikolai Beilarz, just after the Australian Vermiculture sponsored seminar.

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rural/regions/200906/r383200_1787024.mp3

OUT of sight, out of mind. I mean, who really gives the humble worm much thought?

That’s why it came as a surprise to find out there are people who do, and not just a passing interest either! There are scientists, for example, who have spent much of their working life studying this humble creature, and there is also a growing number of primary producers who are sitting up and taking notice.

The proof of that interest, as they say, is in the pudding and it was a full house at last week’s three-day ‘Making Soils Productive’ workshop in Mildura hosted by Broken Hill-based composting operation, Australian Vermiculture, in partnership with Murray Valley Wine Growers and Soil Foodweb International (SFI) Australia.

The guest of honour was world renowned American microbiologist, Elaine Ingham, an Affiliate Professor with SFI Australia as well as being director of research and president of Corvallis, Oregon-based Soil Foodweb Inc.

Her mission in Sunraysia? To show our primary producers a way forward for sustainable farming and soil regeneration.

The key, she demonstrated, was an understanding of how to ensure a ‘healthy soil food web’; thereby promoting plant growth and reducing reliance on inorganic chemicals.

She explained: “Soil organisms create a living, dynamic system that needs to be understood and managed properly for best plant growth. Understanding soil health requires knowing what organisms occur, which ones are working, how many are present and whether they are the right kinds for the desired plants.”

For its part, Australian Vermiculture claims the largest worm farm in Australia and some leading-edge soiling conditioning products like ‘Vermicompost’, ‘Compost Tea’ and ‘Supasoil’.

It looks to Elaine’s workshops to increase the awareness of the importance of farming the soil and not just the plant.

“Biological farming is the way of the future,” is the mantra championed by AV founder and operations manager, Brendon Price.

“At AV we’ve combined the desire to produce a valuable product using organic waste streams, the ‘wizardry of the worm’ and a belief that nature knows best,” he said.

“The result is a range of products certified organic by SFI and NAASA,” he added.

Elaine radiates the same passion.

She is SFI founder and believes in sharing her knowledge with those at grass roots level... it’s education, education and more education.

“Working with soils is not just for farmers who grow crops, but also graziers, fruit and vegetable growers, parks and gardens workers, nursery operators and even your average domestic gardener,” she claims.

Meanwhile, Brendon explained the expertise of Australian Vermiculture “is taking traditional composts further to help create a more active and fertile soil on the farm”.

“Australian Vermiculture has developed a vermi-compost with a great variety of life in it,” he said.

“Put simply Australian Vermiculture combine best practices in composting and worm farming techniques to produce a rich organic fertiliser full of micro-organisms. This unseen, microscopic life is the cornerstone to releasing the soil’s nutrients for whatever is grown in it. The result is a fully organic, balanced soil that works intensively, encouraging the maximum growth with the crops planted in it.”

Brendon said the results seen by farmers, growers and gardeners from traditional compost stems from the fact that compost is organic.

“What has been disregarded, until recent times, is the biological interaction between the compost’s microscopic life and the plant life.

Through our research and development, we have developed a deep understanding of how to develop a flourishing microscopic ecosystem within the vermicompost that evolves into a rich natural soil.

“The ecosystem continues to thrive and work in harmony with the seed and root system of the crops after the vermicompost has been laid. Australian Vermiculture can produce vermicompost this way on a large commercial scale. So much so, that Australian Vermiculture has the largest open windrow worm farm in Australia.”

Australian Vermiculture has had its intensive research and development program in place for nearly a decade “and the result of this investment can be seen in the biological richness of a farmers’ land once our products have been used”.

“That expertise puts us at the forefront of biological farming,” Brendon said.

“Our focus is to produce the best soil and the best crops for farmers.
“While numbers of farmers have used traditional compost with some success over the years, the results have been constrained. Traditional compost is created by operators that have been driven by a commercial focus on waste management. Their energies and commercial focus is not on producing the best soil for farmers needs.

“Farmers that have seen their lands deteriorate through the use of chemicals and unbalanced soils are now seeing the value of their land improving, using our products. Yields are better and quality of the crop is refined which in turn is leading to better returns.

Australian Vermiculture makes some strong claims about what its products can do on the farm, or in the vineyard.

“Our products create a total nutrient pool in the soil by returning the biology back to natural ratios,” Brendon explained.

The product is made from 100 percent natural organic materials: green waste, manures, offal and cardboard.

The product undergoes a thermal pasteurisation processes to ensure weed and pathogens have been destroyed.

Specific products include:

Vermicompost. A high-grade, woody compost containing rich proportions of nutrients and living soil biology. Vermicompost is blended from composted offal, manures, green waste and our premium product, Supasoil. Used at three to six tones per hectare depending on soil analysis, Vermicompost actively improves soil structure allowing better water infiltration and retention assisting in nutrient uptake.

Compost Tea. A ‘brew’ made from our premium product Supasoil – tailor-made to accommodate specific soil requirements determined from soil analysis. Compost Tea is regularly applied once Vermicompost has been used, or after chemical application, to return balanced soil biology to the land.

Supasoil. The firm’s premium product. It is an organic worm worked fertiliser designed to fortify soils. Acting as a soil conditioner, it supplements and stimulates, indigenous soil microbes providing plants with ready access to a biologically balanced food source.

Australian Vermiculture products, along with Soil Foodweb methods, have been successfully incorporated into the practices of table grape growers in Mundubbera and St George (Qld), Alice Springs (NT), Menindee (NSW) and, Kenley and Sunraysia in Victoria.

The company claims arrange of benefits for its products

• The need for any fertiliser declines. A healthy food web efficiently stores and cycles nutrients.
• Nitrates are converted into its non-leachable form. Nitrates remain in the plant root zone preventing leaching into ground water as nitrogen.
• Water quality is enhanced. The micro organisms effectively and efficiently degrade pollutants.
• Increases soil water holding capacity. The biological activity enhances soil structure to increase the capacity for holding water.
• Reduced erosion of topsoil is lost. The soil’s organisms stabilise the soil structure reducing water and wind erosion.
• Reduced use of pesticides and herbicides. A healthy soil food web creates a stronger crop that can helps suppress disease causing organisms from getting to the plant.
• Improved crop quality.

“It seems obvious that healthy plants spring from healthy soils,” Brendon said.

“Experience has taught us that chemicals and non-organic fertilisers may provide short-term results but they don’t provide sustainable and profitable land over time.

“Fresh scientific research of the micro-biology in soils now better understands the benefits and interactions with plants. This research now enables the repair, and preservation, of fully organic soils that produce improved crops.

Where soils have been leeched and degraded over time through the use of chemicals and added toxins, we are now working directly with’ agronomists to get the appropriate mix of life to ensure a balanced biodiversity.”

To see the original article the click here.

An article appeared in the ABC Rural recently where Craig Murkins, General Manager of Australian Vermicultre was interviewed.

Listen to the full report on the ABC website at www.abc.net.au/rural/regions/content/2007/s2555399.htm

Australian Vermiculture says drought and chemical overuse are contributing to the depletion of soils, but this can be rectified with its special, organic compost, already popular with grapegrowers.

Wine and tablegrape growers who know about it have been ordering huge quantities of the special compost from the large worm farm enterprise at Broken Hill, New South Wales. The compost, which reduces salinity, water consumption and the need to use chemical fertilisers – while promoting soil fertility and crop growth – is produced by Australian Vermiculture and supplied to four states.

The success story began in 2000 when the founder and now operations manager, Brendon Price, a third generation local, used a pitchfork to turn in 2 tonnes of worms in the backyard of his late friend Pro Hart, the celebrated painter. The artist’s daughter, Marie, has carried on her family’s association with Australian Vermiculture by designing and illustrating the packaging for the company’s Supasoil.

The expansion of the business has now reached the stage of a partnership with Murray Valley Winegrowers to host a three-day workshop on sustainable farming, conducted by internationallyrecognised biological authority Elaine Ingham.

“I began the enterprise by looking for ways to utilise organic green waste and at its commercial possibilities with worms and compost to create a tool for treating what was being used as landfill,” Brendon said. “A model treatment tool has now been in use at Broken Hill for some years as a joint venture with the city council, which allows us to operate our enterprise from its waste management facility on the outskirts of the town.

“We use local organic waste as a food source for making our compost with the cooperation of the city council.”

The company’s association with the Broken Hill City Council began in 2002, and two years later Australian Vermiculture forged another agreement with the local abattoirs to take its offal. As research and development continued, the Broken Hill Community Foundation became involved with funding to assist the company to receive accreditation and licensing.

Australian Vermiculture is now licensed by the Environment Protection Authority, accredited organic and with Standards Australia, while aiming to become the first accredited Australian soil foodweb institute composting site by meeting requirements.

“We have a product range made from 100 per cent natural, organic materials of green waste, manures, offal and cardboard,” Brendon said. “Our products have undergone thermal pasteurisation processes to ensure that weed and pathogens have been destroyed."

“In its tailor-made versions, our product rolls out by the road train to table and winegrape growers from the Northern Territory to Menindee, Sunraysia and the Riverland.”

Two years ago, Brendon took his first load of worms out of Broken Hill to Dublin, north of Adelaide, to value-add his biology to composted waste in a partnership with Peats Soils.

Australian Vermiculture now has a range of products, led by its Supasoil at $20 for 22 litres and $49 a cubic metre for its Vermicompost product.

“We may be the only organisation in Australia that targets farming the soil as part of a holistic approach to counter the deterioration of rural land to improve crops and reduce costs, particularly with water,” Brendon said. 

Quality Grand Hotel,

Mildura, Victoria

Sustainable farming for the future is essential. If you are involved in agriculture, then this workshop cannot be missed.

There are only limited spaces left to register now to ensure a place. To register contact us - click here

About Dr. Elaine Ingham

Dr. Ingham is a world renowned microbiologist who believes that if you get the soil and the biology right everything else falls into place.

Dr. Elaine Ingham is an energetic, easy-to-understand speaker who explains what life in the soil is all about. Behind this user-friendly approach lies a wealth of knowledge gained from years of intensive research into the organisms which make up the soil foodweb. Elaine not only understands the soil foodweb, she has knowledge on how to ensure a healthy foodweb to promote plant growth and reduce reliance on inorganic chemicals.

While truly an academic, Elaine is also passionate about sharing her knowledge and research findings with those at the grass roots level, working with soils. That includes not just farmers who grow crops, but also those who graze cattle, sheep and other livestock, fruit and vegetable growers, green keepers, parks and gardens workers, nursery operators - in fact anyone who grows things, even if it’s just plain old lawn grass.

Elaine offers a way forward for sustainable farming. A way of improving the soils we work with now and a way to keep soils in this healthier state without damaging any other eco-system. For more information and video clips visit http://www.elaineingham.com.

This workshop is presented by

Murray Valley Winegrowers represents winegrape growers in the Murray - Darling and Swan Hill wine regions. We are dedicated to farming practices that are sustainable and viable for the future.

Soil Food Web Institute Australia has been working with growers Australia-wide since 2007 to improve the health and productivity of their soils. Phone: (02) 6622 5150 or visit www.soilfoodweb.com.au

Australian Vermiculture has been successful in significantly improving soil condition, in turn increasing yields in both quality and size through the utilization of a range of tailor made products.

The expertise at Australian Vermiculture combines best practices in composting with commercial worm farming techniques to produce an organic vermi-compost, rich in beneficial soil biology. It is this unseen microscopic life that is the cornerstone to unlocking nutrients. Proven benefits from ongoing research include salt immobilization, building of soil fertility and improved water holding capacity to name a few.

Ten years of intensive research and development has resulted in a vermi-compost that has both domestic and international experts agreeing that Australian Vermiculture is producing premium quality, living compost. These exceptional results are backed up by SFI, NASAA and Australian Stand ards certification.